The year 2015 was full of significant publications in the field of ophthalmology. Here’s a snapshot of 2 “proof-of-concept” studies suggesting that “Sterols” could be promising approaches to treat cataract.

Ions channels are pore-forming membrane proteins that control ion transit across the cell membrane to various stimuli. It was shown that deregulation or dysfunction of channels are clearly linked to many human diseases like cancer.

Ion channels can affect immune cells activation and their cytotoxicity against cancer cells. Their abnormal expression or activity stimulate the malignant phenotype. All these facts indicate that novel cancer therapies could be found with pharmacology agents ion channel target specific.

The anti-cancer property of the Vitamin K3 (Vitk3) was again recently studied by Dr Meng-Er Huang’s team (Curie Institute, CNRS UMR3348, Paris).
By using in vitro pro-oxydative cellular models, Dr Huang and collaborators observed a cancer-selective cytotoxicity of vitk3 in Peroxyredoxin 1 (PRDX1 aka PRX1)-deficient cancer cell lines.
To further investigate the underlying molecular mechanisms, the authors used a stably PRX1-depleted HeLa cell line (PRX1-) (vs. Control (PRX1+)) under various experimental conditions. They notably treated PRX1- and PRX1+ cell lines by vitk3 and 6 other known anticancer molecules targeting different cellular events (microtubule (vinblastine & taxol); DNA (doxorubicin & daunorubicin); DNA transcription (actinomycin D) and cell cycle (5-FU)).

2015 was marked by the increasing number of studies related to cellular cytoskeletal dynamics. In this context, it should be noted that the new generation of live cell-imaging SiR-Actin & SiR-Tubulin stains have been widely embraced by Life Scientists. Launched a few months ago, these fluorescent probes are now regularly cited in the “Material & Methods” section of numerous prestigious publications as indicated by Ali (see his the posts “Live cell imaging tool SiR-actin on JBC frontcover” and “User experience of SiR-Actin and SiR-Tubulin Live Cell Imaging“).

Nevertheless, cytoskeletal interactions are still widely studied in “fixed” cells. In the same manner as for live cell-imaging, these experimental assays require high quality reagents too. With the help of our friends from Cystoskeleton Inc., we have selected 9 premium research tools validated for actin visualization in PFA-fixed cells.